For two days, Melbourne became the meeting place for over 400 clinicians, researchers, nurses, allied health professionals, consumers and industry partners united by a common goal; to improve outcomes for people affected by thoracic cancers.
Expertly convened by A/Prof Surein Arulananda and under the theme Shaping Tomorrow’s Thoracic Cancer Care Together, the 2026 Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia (TOGA) Annual Scientific Meeting explored across more than 30 presentations, workshops and panel discussions, how the next generation of advances in lung cancer and mesothelioma will rely on multidisciplinary teams working together to translate discoveries into better patient care.
The opening address was delivered by Mr Fred Zeenni, living with SCLC, and benefitting from a clinical trial which he says gave him back ‘hope, strength and the chance to keep looking forward’. He reminded the audience that every number in the survival curve is a person whose life changed with the words “You have lung cancer”. Every day is another chance, but respect, care and good communication also contribute to making each day a happy memory.
Precision Medicine is Becoming Even More Precise
Precision medicine has transformed lung cancer treatment over the past decade. Yet one of the strongest messages from ASM 2026 was that the field is continuing to evolve at extraordinary speed.
Opening the ALK Breakfast Symposium, Prof Ben Solomon reflected on the remarkable journey of ALK-positive lung cancer—from the discovery of the ALK fusion gene through to modern next-generation inhibitors that are delivering unprecedented long-term survival for many patients.
International keynote speaker Prof Sanjay Popat challenged delegates to rethink how we classify NSCLC EGFR mutations. Rather than referring broadly to “EGFR-positive” disease, he demonstrated that treatment decisions increasingly depend on understanding the biology of individual mutation subtypes, with new therapies being developed specifically for atypical and compound EGFR mutations.
The conversation continued with emerging evidence in KRAS-mutant lung cancer. Once considered “undruggable”, KRAS has rapidly become one of the most active areas of clinical research, with multiple next-generation inhibitors and combination strategies already entering clinical trials.
The meeting reinforced an important message: precision medicine is no longer simply about finding a mutation. It is about selecting the right therapy for the right molecular subtype at exactly the right point in a patient’s treatment journey.
Immunotherapy Enters its Next Chapter
If the first decade of immunotherapy established immune checkpoint inhibitors as standard treatment, the next decade appears focused on helping more patients benefit from them.
Prof Popat explored why many lung cancers remain resistant to immunotherapy and outlined emerging approaches designed to reshape the tumour microenvironment. Rather than relying solely on PD-(L)1 inhibitors, future treatment may involve smarter CTLA-4 therapies, PD-(L)1 × VEGF bispecific antibodies, T-cell engagers, personalised mRNA vaccines and novel oncolytic virotherapy.
Complementing this, Prof Sara Ramella presented translational research from the PEMBRO-RT study demonstrating how stereotactic radiotherapy may stimulate systemic immune responses beyond the irradiated tumour. These findings suggest radiotherapy could help convert traditionally “immune cold” tumours into tumours more responsive to immunotherapy.
A/Prof Anthony Linton highlighted a similar evolution in mesothelioma. In little more than a decade, treatment has progressed from chemotherapy alone to immunotherapy combinations, targeted approaches and biomarker-driven clinical trials.
Taken together, these presentations illustrated a major shift in thoracic oncology.
The future is unlikely to be built on individual drugs alone.
Instead, it will rely on intelligently combining surgery, radiotherapy, immunotherapy and targeted therapies to overcome resistance and improve long-term survival.
Australia’s National Lung Cancer Screening Program has entered the implementation era
One year after Australia’s National Lung Cancer Screening Program commenced, discussion has shifted from whether screening works to how we make it work well.
Cancer Australia reported that more than 100,000 Australians have now enrolled in the program, with over 102,000 low-dose CT scans completed and 269 primary lung cancers detected during the first year of implementation.
Attention has now turned to ensuring health services can deliver timely, equitable care as screening participation grows.
The dedicated screening workshop explored every stage of the diagnostic pathway – from referral and risk assessment through to biopsy, molecular testing and multidisciplinary treatment planning.
Presenters identified several emerging challenges:
- Increasing demand for bronchoscopy, PET imaging and interventional radiology
- Workforce shortages across respiratory medicine, radiology, surgery and specialist nursing
- Equitable access for regional and rural Australians
- Timely molecular testing and multidisciplinary discussion
- Measuring quality across diagnostic pathways.
Rather than focusing solely on problems, the workshop highlighted practical solutions already being implemented across Australia, including nurse-led triage, telehealth-enabled multidisciplinary meetings, standardised referral pathways and stronger quality measurement.
For TOGA, this reflected an important shift. Screening is no longer a future aspiration. It is now a health system implementation challenge.
Nurses are Transforming Lung Cancer Care
One of the strongest themes running throughout ASM 2026 was the expanding role of specialist lung cancer nurses.
Presentations from Ashleigh Hocking, Siobhan Dormer, Abby Fyfe, Mary Duffy, Dr Renae Grundy and Prof Peter Allcroft demonstrated that nursing innovation is now reshaping entire models of care.
Ashleigh Hocking described Austin Health’s nurse-led lung nodule service, where specialist nurses coordinate referral triage, patient education, investigations, multidisciplinary meetings and navigation through complex diagnostic pathways.
Drawing on evidence from the literature and two years of experience at the Royal Hobart Hospital, Dr Renae Grundy demonstrated that well-designed nurse-led clinics improve continuity of care, make previously “invisible” nursing work measurable, and require clear governance, organisational support and evaluation to ensure long-term sustainability.
Siobhan Dormer presented Western Australia’s nurse-led pulmonary nodule clinic, supporting patients across one of Australia’s largest geographic catchments while reducing fragmentation and improving continuity of care.
Abby Fyfe demonstrated similar improvements at Macquarie University Health, showing how structured nurse-led assessment reduced triage times, improved documentation and increased patient adherence.
Although these services have developed independently, they arrived at remarkably similar conclusions.
Specialist lung cancer nurses are increasingly becoming the coordinators of complex multidisciplinary care; improving patient experience while helping health systems manage growing demand.
Survivorship is Essential to Lung Cancer Care
As more people live longer following lung cancer treatment, survivorship is emerging as one of the fastest-growing areas of thoracic oncology.
Mary Duffy OAM presented the development of Australia’s first structured nurse-led lung cancer survivorship clinic, informed by research exploring what survivors value most after treatment. Participants consistently identified ongoing needs around emotional wellbeing, managing long-term side effects, understanding recurrence risk and receiving personalised survivorship care plans.
Peter Allcroft challenged clinicians to integrate palliative care earlier, helping patients and families navigate uncertainty while maintaining quality of life alongside active treatment.
Consumer advocate Jon Graftdyk OAM brought these themes together through lived experience, reminding delegates that successful treatment is ultimately measured by whether people can continue doing the things that matter most to them.
Collectively, these presentations highlighted a changing philosophy.
Survival remains essential. But increasingly, living well matters too.
Radiotherapy Continues to Evolve
Radiotherapy has been a cornerstone of thoracic cancer treatment for decades, but several presentations demonstrated that it continues to evolve alongside systemic therapies.
Prof Sara Ramella explored how stereotactic radiotherapy may enhance immune responses in combination with immunotherapy.
Meanwhile, Dr Joanna Ludbrook took delegates through nearly four decades of evidence in limited-stage small cell lung cancer, illustrating how the field has progressed from asking whether thoracic radiotherapy improves survival to refining fractionation schedules and questioning how much radiotherapy is needed alongside modern immunotherapy.
These sessions reinforced that local treatments remain central to multidisciplinary cancer care, even as systemic therapies continue to advance.
Celebrating Australian research
ASM 2026 also recognised outstanding contributions from emerging researchers.
The New Investigator Oral Presentation Award was presented to A/Prof Malinda Itchins for her work from the AURORA-ROS1 registry, providing one of Australia’s largest real-world analyses of outcomes for people living with ROS1-positive non-small cell lung cancer.
The Poster Award was presented to Shirley Liang, recognising her consumer co-designed educational resource supporting patient understanding of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA)—an increasingly important component of precision oncology.
The meeting also recognised Prof Rob Stirling OAM with Honorary Membership of TOGA and acknowledged the generosity of supporters including Jessie Xiao, Angeline Low and Maria Chan, whose fundraising efforts continue to accelerate thoracic cancer research.
Thank you
TOGA sincerely thanks the Local Organising Committee, led by A/Prof Surein Arulananda, whose vision and leadership delivered an outstanding scientific program.
Our thanks also extend to committee members Archit Chawla, Ashleigh Hocking, Daniel Steinfort, Dasantha Jayamanne, Jaclyn Yoong, Jazmin Eckhaus, Ken O’Byrne, Kortnye Smith, Mel Moore, Neil Wallace, Peter Young, Renae Grundy, Sho Waller and Tara Roberts, whose expertise shaped a meeting that truly reflected the multidisciplinary nature of thoracic oncology.
Finally, thank you to every speaker, chair, delegate, sponsor, exhibitor and consumer representative whose participation made ASM 2026 such a valuable forum for learning, collaboration and innovation.
Looking ahead
The pace of progress in thoracic oncology continues to accelerate.
Across genomics, immunotherapy, screening, radiotherapy, survivorship and models of care, ASM 2026 demonstrated that tomorrow’s advances will depend not only on scientific discovery, but on bringing disciplines together to translate those discoveries into better outcomes for patients.
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